Chapter 24 #2
“And how will you accomplish this, my darling?” Kiran’s voice was smooth, but she could sense his distrust.
Imani didn’t hesitate to tell the truth. “You know Tanyl and I had an … arrangement. Tanyl will let me get close to him, and then I’ll kill him. With the true heir hidden or missing, confusion will reign for at least a bit, and it will make Essenheim an easy target for an invasion.”
With a glance at Zadie, Kiran shrugged. “It’s an appealing offer. My father will make her complete a binding, but what’s one more, right, Imani?” He grinned.
She didn’t deign to respond. He had maybe a hundred active bindings on his body, and she had several, as well. The only difference was she planned to follow through with this one, so it didn’t scare her at all to make this promise to King Magnus.
“How will we cover up Ayla’s death?” Zadie asked.
“Respen, of course. He’s been terrorizing the kingdom, stirring uprisings in the camps, and now he’s killed my chosen in order to continue to unravel our father’s plans.”
The nymph witch nodded. “That works.”
The emissary group traveled back home immediately after Ayla’s death had been announced.
King Magnus was furious about Ayla, but he believed the farce about Kiran and Imani finding out they were heartmates.
While, at first, Magnus threatened Kiran over him having Imani for himself, after listening to Saevel, he surrendered to the fact that he could not go against fate, which was beyond his realm of control.
In the end, he gave Imani and Kiran his blessing.
The sweet taste of victory permeated Imani’s tongue when Zadie relayed Magnus’s acquiescence. Indeed, Magnus especially loved Imani’s idea of presenting him with the head of the Essenheim king on a platter. She had a feeling that was what persuaded him the most.
Imani was declared a princess days after returning with the emissaries from the sirens, the announcement of her being heartmates with Kiran spreading across Niflheim.
Privacy was a thing of the past now that Imani had agreed to the ruse with the dwarves.
Following dinner one night, Zadie burst into her room and began ordering around servants who were carrying arms full of dresses. Not wanting to be caught reading her wand book, Imani slammed it shut.
The Drasil was calling to her at night, like an insane fever dream. The secret to the Drasil was under the Menlone Mountain, she was sure of it. She studied well into each night and didn’t appreciate this intrusion into her work.
In seconds, several dresses were laid out on her bed, each entirely covered in different jewels for each night she and Kiran would be there. Diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds gleamed in the firelight. Imani glowered at each one, and at Zadie.
“I do have a door you can knock on.”
“You’re a princess of the royal family now—forget about retaining the freedoms you’ve enjoyed. Now”—Zadie clapped once—“up! We have a fitting that needs to be completed immediately. Adjusting these gowns will take days, and we only have three before we leave.”
The gravity of the situation hit Imani. It felt like her throat was closing up as she remembered that, while this was a ruse, they were treading on dangerous ground.
News of this would reach Tanyl, and he’d never forgive her.
Not that she’d forgive him anymore after his betrayal of Essenheim by posing as the rightful king when Imani knew the truth.
Imani swallowed hard and was promptly pulled up into a standing position by the servants, who then began tugging the dress on and tightening the corset.
Silence fell for a moment as the women worked.
“Are all these adornments and intricacies really necessary?” Imani asked through gritted teeth as a needle slightly pricked her arm.
Meandering around the working servants, Zadie murmured corrections and orders to ensure the job was done to her standards. “Each will be seen as a sign of reverence for the dwarves’ culture. You’ll need everything to be perfect to get the access we need.”
“And what access is that?”
“All I can say is that Kiran needs an audience with their high sentinel and will need to convince him of a favor we desperately need. Your soul draw will come in handy.”
“Ah, ever his father’s little puppet.”
Zadie ignored her, continuing her perusal of Imani’s appearance.
“This has nothing to do with his father. The dwarves are almost as elusive as the Norn, but in many ways worse—they only welcome their breed to their home city, Eto. Outside breeds are strictly forbidden. Imani, this is an incredible opportunity that you almost ruined by murdering that trifling common breed Norn. From this point on, you must exercise control in all things—you’ll be watched, just as Kiran is.
Worse, actually. I daresay once the king learns what you can offer with your magic—which he will—he will be fixated on how else he can use you. ”
“Just as he does with Kiran,” Imani stated.
Zadie’s eyes glimmered. “There’s Ara’s clever girl,” she murmured.
“Why does Kiran need a mate to enter? I’m not a dwarf, either.”
“His family is full of shifters, including Kiran. Mated elves, even of other half-breeds, are seen as more trustworthy in the eyes of the dwarves, as they value mated pairs more than any other elven breed, but especially heartmates. They will test your bond.”
Yes, Imani understood. While the Norn elves weren’t quite so distrustful, it was a universal truth that elves everywhere valued their heartmates.
Besides that, solitary elves were … strange.
Elves were emotional creatures; they craved bonding, social stimulation, and affection more than other species. To be alone was unnatural.
“Ideally, we’d have mated him to a dwarf, but as mentioned before, there are no noble females. So we’ve done the next best option—a Norn.”
Her hands trembled slightly at the weight of the responsibility being laid on her.
Zadie gave her a half-smile. “Dwarves treasure rare, beautiful things above all else. It’s common for dwarves to stay within their mountainous territory.
” She reached to play with one of the diamonds on the gown.
“But as the first High-Norn to enter Essenheim in thousands of years, you will be the rarest, most beautiful creature they have ever seen. They will leave their mountain stronghold. They will want to collect you.”